Stormy Satisfaction (Doms of Destiny, Colorado 11)

“I know.”

“I love you, baby.”

“I love you, too.”

Nic got into his rental car.

She turned to Sylas. “I just wish I could go with you and Nic to Chicago. I could help pack up your apartments for you.”

Sylas pulled her into his arms. “You have your exam and Phoebe needs you here.” He pressed his mouth to hers, and on her tiptoes she wrapped her arms around his neck. “I love you, sweetheart.”

“I love you, too.”

“Nic and I will call you tonight.” He got into his rental car.

She watched her two wonderful men drive away. She wiped her eyes. “It’s only three weeks, Ashley. You will survive.”

* * * *

With a pistol and silencer in her lap, Anna Banks sat in the run-down shack Cindy Trollinger had sent her to when all hell broke loose on their plan. Ashley had blown Anna’s cover.

Ashley, the fucking bitch, is to blame for all my problems.

Now she was stuck in this horrible place waiting for the burner phone to ring. Trollinger had given the cell as well as the gun and silencer to her the day they had made their agreement. It had sounded like easy money to her. All she had to do was break into the law firm’s computer network to give Trollinger remote access and enter a few lines of code into

TBK’s systems. The law firm was a piece of cake. She warmed up to Ashley and waited for the right opportunity to enter the virus. TBK was a little more challenging, but she was successful. If TBK lucked out and realized something was wrong, even their best, Jena, would have a difficult time isolating Trollinger’s code.

It had sounded so good at first. I was going to be a fucking millionaire, but now I’m nothing but a goddamn felon.

“Fuck. What’s taking Trollinger so long? She better do something soon. I’m not going to stay here much longer.” Great, Anna. Now you’re talking to yourself like a crazy person.

She looked at the cell’s screen. “Ring, damn it.”

Chapter Fifteen

Ashley touched the images of Nic and Sylas on the screen of her laptop. “I miss you both so much. It’s hell being apart.”

“We miss you, too,” Sylas said.

Nic nodded. “If it wasn’t for Skype, I think I would go crazy.”

“Why don’t you forget about your notice at Braxton and head to Destiny in the morning?” she asked them. “I just need you so much.”

Nic shook his head, which didn’t surprise her. He and Sylas were honorable men and would give their boss the appropriate time to transition their work at Braxton. “Only two weeks to go, baby. I know it’s hard, but you have to be patient.”

She was surprised that he was being so sensible. She would expect that from Sylas, but not Nic. He was the more impulsive of the two of them. At least most of the time.

“It’s more than two weeks, Nic. You and Sylas don’t get back to Colorado until a week from next Thursday. Right now it’s 5:45pm Friday night Mountain Time, which means it’s an hour later where you are. So that’s two weeks and five days and two hours until your plane lands and I see you again.” She grinned. “Not that I’m counting.”

Nic looked at his cell. “And ten minutes. I’m counting, too, baby.”

“And thirty-two seconds,” Sylas added, and they laughed. “We’re anxious to be back together. But like Nic said, we need to be patient.”

Nic nodded. “I’m glad Phoebe gave you the day off so that you could meet us at the airport.”

“Phoebe is the best. She’s almost as anxious as I am for you two to get back to Destiny. She’s scrambling with the Steele Ranch case. Jena hasn’t been able to prove that Walter Steele is an imposter yet but is still working on it. I offered to come into the office yesterday, but Phoebe told me emphatically not to.”

“Of course she did,” Nic said. “She wants you focused on studying.”